Sheldon Keefe has spent the better part of a month talking about depth players. As the Toronto Maple Leafs steamed into the NHL playoffs using the best assets at their disposal, the coach of the team’s AHL affiliate praised those who were left behind, patching the holes in his roster.

His team lost forwards Kasperi Kapanen and Andreas Johnsson to its parent club, along with defenceman Travis Dermott. Kerby Rychel and Rinat Valiev went to the Montreal Canadiens, and Nikita Soshnikov moved to the St. Louis Blues. In what felt like an instant, the Marlies were no longer the most talented team in the AHL.

They needed help and, with the arrivals of Pierre Engvall and Carl Grundstrom, they got it. They also needed a bit of luck, where depth skill forwards such as Dmytro Timashov and Trevor Moore could quickly evolve into top-six creators. And they got that, too: In three playoff games, Timashov has been arguably the team’s best forward, with three points...